Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE)

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 8,337 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 91% compared to the average daily volume of 4,361 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Hawaiian Electric Industries from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Hawaiian Electric Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in Hawaiian Electric Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $707,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its position in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 150.0% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 137,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 82,442 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 157,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 22,363 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 4,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,370,000. 59.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hawaiian Electric Industries Stock Up 2.7 %

HE stock opened at $9.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.73 and a 200-day moving average of $12.70. Hawaiian Electric Industries has a fifty-two week low of $8.74 and a fifty-two week high of $40.16.

Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.48. Hawaiian Electric Industries had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 5.45%. The firm had revenue of $961.40 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hawaiian Electric Industries will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Hawaiian Electric Industries

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electric utility businesses in the United States. It operates in three segments: Electric Utility, Bank, and Other. The Electric Utility segment engages in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.